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Poem penned by U.S. Founding Father discovered in English schoolBy Simon Caldwell Catholic News Service LONDON (CNS) -- A poem written by one of the U.S. Founding Fathers has been discovered in the archives of a Catholic high school in England. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of the signers of the 1776 Declaration of Independence, wrote the poem in Latin in 1754 when he was a student in his final year of high school in Saint-Omer, France. It was found in the archives of Stonyhurst College in Clitheroe, England, by Maurice Whitehead, a professor at the University of Wales, Swansea,...

Catholics Teach the Children of New Orleans Since the Katrina disaster, the schools of the Archdiocese of New Orleans have swelled to double the enrollment of the local public schools -- 40,000 to 20,000. Rev. Neal McDermott, O.P., superintendent of the Catholic schools, told me yesterday that the archdiocese is facing a financial crunch when the $10 million in Catholic Charities money, allocated in 2006 to help the schools following the hurricane, runs out. "Beginning in June 2010, we will have to find $700,000 a year to replace those funds," he said. (Gov. Bobby Jindal eased some of the financial...

November 22, 2006 Memorial of Saint Ceilia, virgin and martyr Psalm: Wednesday 46 Reading 1Rev 4:1-11 I, John, had a vision of an open door to heaven,and I heard the trumpetlike voicethat had spoken to me before, saying,“Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards.”At once I was caught up in spirit. A throne was there in heaven, and on the throne sat onewhose appearance sparkled like jasper and carnelian.Around the throne was a halo as brilliant as an emerald.Surrounding the throne I saw twenty-four other throneson which twenty-four elders sat,dressed in white garments and with...

November 22, 2005Memorial of Saint Cecilia, virgin and martyr Psalm: Tuesday 50 Reading IDn 2:31-45 Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar:“In your vision, O king, you saw a statue,very large and exceedingly bright,terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.The head of the statue was pure gold,its chest and arms were silver,its belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron,its feet partly iron and partly tile.While you looked at the statue,a stone which was hewn from a mountainwithout a hand being put to it,struck its iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces.The iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once,fine...

November 22, 2004Memorial of Saint Cecilia, virgin and martyr Reading IRev 14:1-3, 4b-5 I, John, looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion,and with him a hundred and forty-four thousandwho had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.I heard a sound from heavenlike the sound of rushing water or a loud peal of thunder.The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.They were singing what seemed to be a new hymn before the throne,before the four living creatures and the elders.No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousandwho...

November 22, 2003Memorial of Saint Cecilia, virgin and martyr Psalm: Saturday 49 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Gospel Reading I1 Macc 6:1-13 As King Antiochus was traversing the inland provinces,he heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais,famous for its wealth in silver and gold,and that its temple was very rich,containing gold helmets, breastplates, and weaponsleft there by Alexander, son of Philip,king of Macedon, the first king of the Greeks.He went therefore and tried to capture and pillage the city.But he could not do so,because his plan became known to the people of the citywho rose up in battle...

November 22, 2002Memorial of Cecilia, virgin and martyr Psalm: Friday Week 49 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Gospel Reading IRev 10:8-11 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me.Then the voice spoke to me and said:"Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angelwho is standing on the sea and on the land."So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll.He said to me, "Take and swallow it.It will turn your stomach sour,but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey."I took the small scroll from...